The Agave Linux Shell

The Unix shell has been around longer than most of its users have been alive. It has survived so long because it is a power tool that allows people to do complex things with just a few keystrokes. More importantly, it helps them combine existing programs in new ways and automate repetitive tasks so they aren’t typing the same things over and over again. Use of the shell is fundamental to using a wide range of other powerful tools and computing resources (including “high-performance computing” supercomputers). These lessons will start you on a path towards using these resources effectively on ASU’s Agave cluster.

Prerequisites

This lesson guides you through the basics of file systems and the shell, with a particular emphasis on the ASU high-performance cluster: Agave. If you have stored files on a computer at all and recognize the word “file” and either “directory” or “folder” (two common words for the same thing), you’re ready for this lesson.

If you’re already comfortable manipulating files and directories, searching for files with grep and find, and writing simple loops and scripts, you may be interested in these additional materials provided by the Software Carpentries on Unix (i.e. MacOS) shell tricks: shell-extras.

Schedule

Setup Download files required for the lesson
00:00 1. Introducing the Shell What is a command shell and why would I use one?
00:05 2. Navigating Files and Directories How can I move around on Agave?
How can I see what files and directories I have?
How can I specify the location of a file or directory on Agave?
00:45 3. Working With Files and Directories How can I create, copy, and delete files and directories?
How can I edit files?
01:35 4. Pipes and Filters How can I combine existing commands to do new things?
02:10 5. Loops How can I perform the same actions on many different files?
03:00 6. Shell Scripts How can I save and re-use commands?
03:45 7. Finding Things How can I find files?
How can I find things in files?
04:30 8. Using the Scheduler How can I run an interactive session on a compute node?
How can I load the software that I need?
How can I submit jobs?
How can I monitor a job?
How can I cancel a job that’s pending or running?
How can I monitor resources?
05:15 Finish

The actual schedule may vary slightly depending on the topics and exercises chosen by the instructor.